history written by "scholars"; the editor expects that each writer
shall have had previous experience in investigation and in statement.
It is a history by "associated scholars," because each can thus bring
to bear his special knowledge and his special aptitude.

Previous efforts to fuse together into one work short chapters by many
hands have not been altogether happy; the results have usually been
encyclopaedic, uneven, and abounding in gaps. Hence in this series the
whole work is divided into twenty-six volumes, in each of which the
writer is free to develop a period for himself. It is the editor's
function to see that the links of the chain are adjusted to each other,
end to end, and that no considerable subjects are omitted.

The point of view of The American Nation is that the purpose of the
historian is to tell what has been done, and, quite as much, what has
been purposed, by the thinking, working, and producing people who make
public opinion. Hence the work is intended to select and characterize
the personalities who have stood forth as leaders and as seers; not
simply the founders of commonwealths or the statesmen of the republic,
but also the great divines, the inspiring writers, and the captains of
industry. For this is not intended to be simply a political or
constitutional history: it must include the social life of the people,
their religion, their literature, and their schools. It must include
their economic life, occupations, labor systems, and organizations of
capital. It must include their wars and their diplomacy, the relations
of community with community, and of the nation with other nations.

The true history, nevertheless, must include the happenings which mark
the progress of discovery and colonization and national life. Striking
events, dramatic episodes, like the discovery of America, Drake's